Disclaimer: The views presented in this blog post are solely of the author and not on behalf of The Learning Curve, Vashi.
Parents are requested to keep an eye out for food allergies et al while deciding their child's daily diet.
Moms often have a set pattern of gripes and whines (yes, we whine too) and one on top of our list is about our child's eating habits or lack thereof. My kid doesn't eat veggies! My child doesn't like milk. My child always wants junk food from KFC...the list is as varied as each child and his or her likes and dislikes. But as parents and as people who have grown up from similar tough little tykes in the past, we know
it's ESSENTIAL to get some food into those little tummies. Good food that is. But the problem always comes down to this: How do I get my child to eat?
With summer looming over most of India, it also becomes essential to get our children to get the kinds of foods which are easy on their systems in terms of digesting and what will keep them cool as well.
My experience as a mother of an almost first-grader is this: keep it colorful, take their inputs while making it and try and make it fun for them as much as possible. The preschoolers especially tend to be pretty choosy in terms of what they allow in their mouths wrt food but sadly the inedible stuff ends up there with frightening regularity!
When giving your child fruits, present it colorful bowls with cutlery they will have fun using. Make sure to spend on good brands that have a good finish to it rather than just go for showy stuff that doesn't hold up with multiple washes.
Fruits are always a good idea but unless your child is used to more texture in their foods, giving them a plate of fruit salad might not work out the first time around. Since children prefer things they can pick up with their fingers and usually prefer the sweet to the sour, drizzling a bit of honey on bite-size pieces of apples works well.
If your child takes forever to eat their banana and ends up squishing it in their hands rather than eat it, you can blitz a banana with some milk and make a yummy smoothie or shake and add honey rather than sugar to sweeten it.
Same with fruits like chickoo which kids often declare to be "yuck" but a bit of chickoo blended with chocolate milk (milk made with bournvita/complan/horlicks or any drinking chocolate) becomes a delicious Chickochoc Shake which they'll probably ask for again and again.
And if you would like your child to eat more fiber, you can always opt for fun sandwiches made with whole wheat bread and all the veggies you'd want but cover it with a bit of cheese to see the smiles appearing on the little faces.
This mother recommends- tomato and cucumber sandwiches with cheese spread and a slice of cheese in between. Grill it and serve it up in small pieces which little hands will keep grabbing at.
Make a single slice of personal pizza with ketchup and a cheese slice and grill it in the microwave or on the stove and serve it up...no more worries about the greasy stuff your local pizza places serve up. And if you want yummy fun for the whole family why not serve paav bhaaji? Barring karela (bitter gourd), every single veggie works very well with and the kids love the butter paavs and eat their fill.
So go easy this summer...on you and your child's tummy and have fun with big juicy slices of watermelon and mangoes and keep your tot healthy and happy!
Parents are requested to keep an eye out for food allergies et al while deciding their child's daily diet.
Moms often have a set pattern of gripes and whines (yes, we whine too) and one on top of our list is about our child's eating habits or lack thereof. My kid doesn't eat veggies! My child doesn't like milk. My child always wants junk food from KFC...the list is as varied as each child and his or her likes and dislikes. But as parents and as people who have grown up from similar tough little tykes in the past, we know
it's ESSENTIAL to get some food into those little tummies. Good food that is. But the problem always comes down to this: How do I get my child to eat?
With summer looming over most of India, it also becomes essential to get our children to get the kinds of foods which are easy on their systems in terms of digesting and what will keep them cool as well.
My experience as a mother of an almost first-grader is this: keep it colorful, take their inputs while making it and try and make it fun for them as much as possible. The preschoolers especially tend to be pretty choosy in terms of what they allow in their mouths wrt food but sadly the inedible stuff ends up there with frightening regularity!
When giving your child fruits, present it colorful bowls with cutlery they will have fun using. Make sure to spend on good brands that have a good finish to it rather than just go for showy stuff that doesn't hold up with multiple washes.
Fruits are always a good idea but unless your child is used to more texture in their foods, giving them a plate of fruit salad might not work out the first time around. Since children prefer things they can pick up with their fingers and usually prefer the sweet to the sour, drizzling a bit of honey on bite-size pieces of apples works well.
If your child takes forever to eat their banana and ends up squishing it in their hands rather than eat it, you can blitz a banana with some milk and make a yummy smoothie or shake and add honey rather than sugar to sweeten it.
Same with fruits like chickoo which kids often declare to be "yuck" but a bit of chickoo blended with chocolate milk (milk made with bournvita/complan/horlicks or any drinking chocolate) becomes a delicious Chickochoc Shake which they'll probably ask for again and again.
And if you would like your child to eat more fiber, you can always opt for fun sandwiches made with whole wheat bread and all the veggies you'd want but cover it with a bit of cheese to see the smiles appearing on the little faces.
This mother recommends- tomato and cucumber sandwiches with cheese spread and a slice of cheese in between. Grill it and serve it up in small pieces which little hands will keep grabbing at.
Make a single slice of personal pizza with ketchup and a cheese slice and grill it in the microwave or on the stove and serve it up...no more worries about the greasy stuff your local pizza places serve up. And if you want yummy fun for the whole family why not serve paav bhaaji? Barring karela (bitter gourd), every single veggie works very well with and the kids love the butter paavs and eat their fill.
So go easy this summer...on you and your child's tummy and have fun with big juicy slices of watermelon and mangoes and keep your tot healthy and happy!
Image courtesy www.pixabay.com
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